Thousands of chains flew at her and Cloud Walking was getting a lot of use allowing Kumo to dodge. When chains would wrap around her, she would break it with a condensed cloud blade. Reading the notification had made her look at her new enemy and she couldn’t say it disappointed her.
Floating towards her was a writhing mass of living chains. Each one seemed to have a mind of their own and were able to change course mid-air to surprise her. Another problem is they seemed endless. She had put miles between her and the Warden, and yet the chains kept coming.
These chains weren’t going to exhaust themselves and she was already feeling the strain on stamina, so something other than dodging had to be done. Hundreds of cloud blades started to form and were cutting the chain links apart. Metal fell from the sky back into the prison below and the monster sent more chains to make up for those that it lost.
A storm cloud formed overhead, and lightning started to strike down at the chains. This was obviously effective against the boss monster. With every strike it would recoil, and this horrible grinding metal sound would fill the air. Chain links started falling from the mass itself which confirmed that Kumo was damaging the monster. Even with the damage, the chains kept coming though. She knew it would be a long fight and hoped her mana would hold out.
Her third Stormcloud ended, and the mass of chains was noticeably smaller. Mana was being consumed fast to keep up the cloud blades and storm clouds. On top of that her stamina was nearly exhausted. Both her and the enemy were in bad shape. The difference was that Kumo had come this far, and she would not lose here.
Underestimating her foe, she went on an even more aggressive attack trying to finish it quicker. Cloud blades struck the mass itself, and more chain links started to fall to the ground. She smiled, but at that moment hundreds of chains shot up straight from below her and wrapped around her entire body. Being this exhausted made her miss that the Warden had dropped chains from its main body down into the prison cell down below and snaked across until they were directly under her. All the falling chains helped hide this tactic from Kumo.
After being bound, she lashed out with as many cloud blades as possible. Chains broke but were immediately replaced. When she caught a glimpse of the ground, she realized the monster was pulling her fast to the main mass of chains. Then everything went black.
Metal chains wrapped completely around her and with the loss of light there was only one place she could be, right in the center of the mass. Pressure formed along her body as the chains started constricting her.
Her mind drifted in a haze as the pain hit her. She was being crushed alive again and this time she was alone. Images of Synexus, her friends, her dad, and her village started to flood her mind. Thoughts about them going on without her replaced the images. That naturally led into her thinking about her death and how they would hold a funeral for her. An image of her body being lowered into the ground made her shutter.
The ground? Dirt closing around me. Dirt being tossed on top of me to hide me from the living world. Dirt being compacted around me as the years passed. Dirt enclosing me. Trapping me. Caging me. Dirt taking away my freedom like these chains were. Dirt being thrown over my eyes so I can no longer see the clouds. No! NOOOO!
Anger replaced pain as she let out a primal yell from inside the mass of evil chains. Mana compacted down into a Thunder Surge, but it took everything she had left instead of the normal cost. Then a massive explosion happened around her as hurricane force winds, deadly bolts of lightning, and deafening thunder blasted everything around her. Chains instantly disintegrated as lightning touched them, the others broke apart at every chain link as the powerful wind blasted them away, even the sound wave seemed to rattle the chains further away from her. Notifications came into view.
The Warden has been slain!
Thunder Surge has evolved into Tempest Surge!
Tempest Surge: Compress a tempest itself using mana. When released, a powerful wind will erupt from you along with deadly lightning bolts and thunder that will leave enemies dazed. All effects ignore allies.
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She could barely concentrate due to the exhaustion of her last attack and the fight before it, but she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. Not only was her enemy defeated, her trial was over. There was no notification yet but looking around she realized that she was standing amongst the clouds. She had earned her freedom.
White light started to come from the clouds until it looked like she was inside one. The System gave her the news she was waiting for.
Congratulations, Kumo. You have successfully completed the trial dungeon!
Bonus experience has been awarded.
Triumph of Oneself Achievement has been unlocked.
Triumph of Oneself: You have completed a trial dungeon and triumphed over what was weighing down your soul. Through knowing yourself better and cleansing your soul, your resources have benefited. Stamina and Mana will now regenerate at double the rate.
New Skill Obtained!
Chain Lightning (passive): All your attacks now will chain to an additional enemy doing 50% less damage to that enemy.
Kumo was not expecting that as a reward. She had just evolved her surge skill, gotten the Cloud Walking skill in this dungeon, and now she had yet another new skill to work on. As for the skill itself, she was happy. This meant every cloud blade, every hit with the surge, and all her lightning strikes would bounce to a different enemy. Even if it is for reduced damage, it’s free damage that she won’t have to worry about dealing herself. Then another item formed right in front of her.
Living Tempest Armor (Legendary): Armor crafted from a living tempest. This item will grow with you to unlock more powerful features. Negates damage based on the weather. During a storm, the wearer will take negligible damage, however, if the weather is clear the armor will negate a negligible amount of damage. Small sparks fly from the stormy clouds of this armor to cast a small protective lightning layer that deals damage to enemies.
Besides being insanely breathtaking in terms of looks, the armor left Kumo with her jaw dropped. This would take her fighting to the next level since she could summon a storm cloud or create fog. A lol of experimentation was needed to see how well this armor would work. She touched it and it immediately soaked into her existing armor. Inherently she knew that she could summon it with a thought.
As the white faded and the dungeon door became a reality once more, she couldn’t help but think about the impressive gains she earned over the last four years or so. Several levels, a lot of skill levels, a skill upgrade, two new skills, and a piece of equipment that she would have for a lifetime. Not only that, but she truly felt free from all her chains now. Weightless, like a cloud.
Name: Kumo
Race: Human
Class: Cloud Tempest
Level: 20
Health Points: 1225/1225
Mana: 2325/2325
Stamina: 1175/1175
Stats
Intelligence: 200 (+20)
Strength: 90 (+9)
Endurance: 95 (+10)
Vitality: 100 (+10)
Agility: 100 (+10)
Perception: 200 (+20)
Skills
Race: Increased Stats, Ancestor's Experience, Efficient Mana
Class: Blades of the Cloud LV 29, Breeze LV 26, Conjure Fog LV 28, Tempest Surge LV 27, Cloud Cover LV 26, Stormcloud LV 25, Force of the Tempest LV 25, Cloud Walking LV 15, Chain Lightning LV 1
Achievements
Knowledge of Tongues: Pick up languages much faster due to your heritage
Slayer of Monsters: You will now be able to see the remnant magical material of slain monsters.
Ullashtt Ender: You bested one of these massive, fabled beasts taking some of their vast power for yourself. +10% to all stats.
Evolved: All resources have risen by 100.
Triumph of Oneself: You have completed a trial dungeon and triumphed over what was weighing down your soul. Through knowing yourself better and cleansing your soul, your resources have benefited. Stamina and Mana will now regenerate at double the rate.
